Paradoxically, you get better results by focusing more on process than result.
Toyota’s Management Principles 2 - 8
Create continuous process flow to bring problems to the surface
Attempt to strip away all non-value-added work and waiting in any work on a Project. Move products (including informational ones) quickly through well-linked interdependent processes, such that problems surface immediately. Place a high value on achieving this flow, with all members of the value stream bought into its importance.
Use pull systems to avoid over-production
Aim to achieve One Piece Flow. Give your customers what they want, when they want it, in the conditions they want it. Utilize material consumption as the driver for replenishment. Respond to shifting demands, rather than rely on automated systems to buy and manage in bulk materials that spend most of their lives sitting around as Waste.
Level out workload
Reduce peaks by filling valleys, to the extent possible. Don’t work in bursty sprints. Prefer slow burns. Small but Consistent beats Big but Sporadic.
Build a culture of stopping to fix problems, to get quality right the first time
Quality is your main driver of value. Building something slowly, but right the first time, is much more productive than building something quickly, but wrong. Build stopping mechanisms into your systems for when quality slips. Support rapid problem solving.
Standardized tasks are the foundation for continuous improvement and employee empowerment
See Standard Processes, Standardization Enables Creativity, and Structure Enables Improvement.
Henry Ford
Today’s standardization… is the necessary foundation on which tomorrow’s improvement will be based. If you think of “standardization” as the best you know today, but which is to be improved tomorrow - you get somewhere. But if you think of standards as confining, then progress stops.
Use visual controls so no problems may remain hidden
Utilize simple visual indicators of standard conditions, built where the work is being done, to ensure that the work produces quality results - and that those quality results reflect the realities of the floor. Minimize use of screens if physical product is being worked. ➡ Make it Obvious
Use only reliable, thoroughly tested technologies that serve your people and processes
Don’t automate bad processes. Work them manually until they are maximally lean - then add technology. Choose Boring Technology. New technologies that don’t integrate into the overall system will inhibit flow. Perform test runs with prospective technologies before relying on them.